While trawling the Internet for interesting phenomena in any topics in language and writing, I came across this post that was spread around various pages. This one talked about the time when a certain handwriting was banned in schools across Japan. The reason for the banning was it being "too illegible". In fact, some sites … Continue reading The handwriting that schools banned
hiragana
How might a Japanese version of Wheel of Fortune work?
Today, I want to do a little thought experiment, one that is based on a televised gameshow. Wheel of Fortune is perhaps one of the most iconic televised gameshows in America, and perhaps, the world, with over 7000 episodes aired in its ~40 years of history. Currently hosted by Pat Sajak and Vanna White, Wheel … Continue reading How might a Japanese version of Wheel of Fortune work?
The rise of Rōmaji in post-war Japan
Correlating what is spoken with what is written -- that is the long-standing challenge faced by many writing systems across the world. Some use the alphabet, and using certain letter combinations to represent more sounds, while others use logographic or ideographic writing systems to express more along the lines of ideas and things rather than … Continue reading The rise of Rōmaji in post-war Japan
Writing Japanese — H-hentaigana?
Ok. No, it is not what you are probably thinking. Hentaigana has nothing to do with perverted stuff so stereotypical in popular culture. This hentai we are talking about here pertains to this thing called 変体, or variant forms, and that hentaigana, or 変体仮名, basically means the historical variants of the currently used hiragana script. … Continue reading Writing Japanese — H-hentaigana?
Exploring Deeper into Japanese
Having studied Japanese for three years as of the time of writing, I decided to delve deeper into the depths of the Japanese kanji. This little exploration would take up a few posts due to the extensive system behind this script, but anyway, some time in the first century CE, the Japanese people had encountered Chinese … Continue reading Exploring Deeper into Japanese
The Language Closet 